034 | Break Free From The Struggle to SWITCH OFF

Hello, good people, and welcome back to life is sound. With me, your host, James Mayer. I hope you're good, I hope you're well, I hope you're blessed. Now, there's something I wanted to talk about this week that was really catapulted to the forefront of my mind and made me really aware of the situation that people are facing on a daily basis. Now, as some of you will know, last week was World Mental Health Day and I had the privilege that day of delivering sound relaxation sessions to around 35 people. And with it being World Mental Health Day, naturally, people were talking about their issues, about problems that they face in their own lives with their own mental health. And the recurring theme was people really struggle to shut off. And people really struggle to find the time to shut off. This was something I was hearing directly from people, something I was hearing in passing conversations in corridors, and it made me really aware of how busy all of our lives are. And I'm going to share with you later in the episode some things I do to find the time to shut off, and that really help me with my well being and looking after my mindset. Now, a lot of people that day said to me that they struggle to shut off, and when they came out of the sound relaxation session, they realised how much they struggle to shut off. Now, I've been a musician for the longest time and I've been very aware of the power of sound and frequency and how that can help us when we find the time and find the right sound, it can really help us relax into a deep state. So when people are saying, I struggle to shut off, if we can find ways to help you shut off from the stress of life, the next thing is I struggle to find the time. So I would really like you to take a moment and think about how we can make more time. And I think for a lot of us, there can be a really simple solution. And I'd like to try this. I'd like you to try this right now. I'd like you to look at your screen time on your phone. If you're watching this episode on your phone, wait till the episode is done and cheque how many hours you're accumulating on your mobile device per day. Add that up for the week, add it up for the month, add it up for the year. And when we say we struggle to find time, the reality is we are making our lives busier by the choices we make. So a lot of us now, when we have free time, are we investing that time in the right way for our well being? Or are we filling time endlessly, scrolling on our devices and wasting precious time that we could reinvest back into ourselves and our well being when we know life is getting stressful, life is getting heavy, life is getting difficult. We started to use social media and our mobile devices as distraction tools from how we're feeling. And as we all know now from the research, these are the things that are adding to how we are feeling. We're caught in this perpetual loop, this cycle that is just feeding and repeating, feeding and repeating. So when we say, I struggle to find the time to switch off, ask yourself what is my screen time at the moment? And cheque that and look at that number and ask yourself if there's any time in that usage, that screen time usage, that you can take back for you. I was so shocked at how many people said they struggle to switch off. Now, remember that saying, that age old saying, practise makes perfect things are difficult when you do not do them? Often the more we practise switching off and detaching from our devices, from other people, from music, from TV, from reading, really just Practise, spending time with you, doing absolutely nothing. And this is a thing we often do when we do have downtime. We're trying to fill it with something, whether that's reading, music, seeing a friend, instead of really investing that quality time dedicated to you doing nothing. How do we get there? Now, one of the tools I use that really helps me shut off and in that moment, for 1 hour, 1 hour a month, I am doing absolutely nothing. Last year I discovered float therapy and it is essentially something called a float tank that is filled with salt water. The density of the salt water makes you float and you sit there in darkness, floating in water that is body temperature and you are doing absolutely nothing for that hour. It's an hour dedicated to my well being to absolutely shut off and detach from the world. And how can you find something like that that can work for you? Instead of spending the time scrolling and distracting and being in that loop, that just creates a cyclic issue that is not going to change until we choose to change. So when we say, I struggle to find the time, I ask you the question, what is your daily screen time? And is there time you can take back and reinvest into you the right way? And when people say I struggle to switch off, I ask the question, how often are you trying to switch off? Because Practise makes perfect. The more you try to switch off, the better you will get at switching off. And before you know it, it will become second nature and your whole behavioural pattern will change. And these are the little hacks we need to be implementing in this day and age because we are living in a rapid paced society. Information overload, nonstop, every day, doom and gloom. Everything seems like it's always coming to an end. Everything's a crisis and we want to take the time back for ourselves, for our minds, for our well being and tap into that version of you. This is the path, this is the way. Forward motion. Guys, I keep saying it. What are you adding into your diet to help you overcome the struggles that we face as life is getting busier for all of us and life is Sound has now reached an era where I am really going to be pushing the well being side as well as these stimulating conversations for mindset. So look out on our Instagram, look out on our newsletter. If you've not signed up to the newsletter, you can find it in the description. We have got some amazing things launching that I am so excited to share with you guys that is going to help you guys in the world of well being and help you get better at shutting off and detaching from life when it gets a bit crazy. Also remember, if you're feeling out of balance, there's a free download in the description for a free wheel of life that helps you look at different areas of your life that you might need to balance out. And it's a really great tool when things just feel a little bit off. Short and sweet today, guys, remember, is there a way you can find more time? Have a think about that and no matter what you're going through, remember, life is good, life is sound. I'll see you on the next one. Stay blessed. Bye.